Introduction

Bigfoot which is also referred to as Sasquatch is a large hairy humanoid that is beleived to be sighted in northwestern United States and western Canada. A Soviet scientist, Boris Porshnev, suggested that Sasquatch and his Siberian counterpart, the Almas, could be a remnant of Neanderthals, but most scientists do not recognize the creature’s existence.. Supposed evidence of Bigfoot, including sightings, photographs, footprints, etc, have been presented throughout the 20th century. Some people credit the British explorer David Thompson with the first discovery of Sasquatch footprints in 1811. Post which several photographers and videographers have claimed to see the Sasquatch, although none of their purpoted evidence have been verified.

Throughout this project we try to explore the given datasets to answer a couple of different questions through interactive visualizations such as trends in sightings and what characterestics affect the same.

The above map shows the number of Bigfoot sightings within the contiguous United States. The areas marked in red shows the exact sightings where Bigfoot was seen whereas the areas marked in blue shows the interpolated location of Bigfoot sightings. The area with black dots represent the areas without any sightings. The sightings follow a gradient as the darker the shade of red gets the higher the number of sightings are.

By looking at the map above we can interpret that the maximum number of sightings can be attributed to the state of Washington. It is seen that the sighings are focused towards the north west, north and some of them towards the east of the country. The middle of the country does not have a lot of sightings as compared to the east and west as the temperature is comparatively higher.

In the Interactive map of the county wise contiguous United States we can see the number of sightings throughout the nation. If we hover the pointer on the map it is shows us the name of the county, county area, class which the sighting belongs to, number of sightings at the location, population density, date of latest sighting and coordinates of the location. The counties in red are the sightings that are classified as class A, whereas the ones which are green are classfied as Class B sightings and the color of the gradient gets darker as the sightings increase in a specific county.

By analysing the data and plotting it we were able to visualise that the highest number of sightings were recorded in counties present in the following states namely Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming. This can be attributed to the colder climate in these states explaining the huge, furry apperance of Bigfoot. It is also seen that these sightings are seen in areas which aren't densely populated with some exceptions such as Pierce, Washington.

In this plot above we have the sightings in comparision with the population density (per county, people per square miles). If we take a closer look at the plot, It can be inferred that most of the sightings are concentrated around the 300-700 person/sq. miles with 3-5 sightings being the most common. It shows that as the population density takes an upward trajectory the sightings become sparse.
Both, number of sightings and person/sq. miles sightings are normally distributed which allows us to run further statistical analysis followed next.

The given plot above reconfirms our inference by fitting a best fit curve through the data. The best confidence interval can be attributed to the 50 person/sq.mile and the 2 sightings point. The sightings below the optimum level can be attributed as speculations, whereas when the population density increases the confidence in the sightings decreases. Also, the variation of sightings differ significantly before and after the 50person/sq.miles density point.

The "Class A" / "Class B" sightings for each decade between 1960 to 2020, as per population density shows an increasing trend from the 1960's till 2010 post which there is a huge drop in sightings.

The 1960's and 1970's show a low number of sightings which can be attributed to the factor that there were very less communication channels.
The next decades namely 1980's, 1990's, 2000's and 2010's display the highest number of sightings.
Following decade of 2010's shows a rapid decine with minimal sightings.

This map helps to solidify our earlier observations. It shows how the sightings varies every year, plotting a running history of 5 years. In the later years of the previous century we have consistently seen a rise in the sightings before suddenly dropping in the last decade of 2010-2020. Are the bigfoots lost?

The map on the left with red pointers denote the class A sightings whereas the map map on the right with green pointers denote the class B sightings.

The words most associated with Bigfoot have been divided into Class A and Class B sightings region wise. The most common words associated with sightings in Class A is mostly "saw" and "seen" while in Class B, the most commmon word attributed to Bigfoot is "heard". This could imply that in Class B, people may have not seen but heard noises and associated them with Bigfoot.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the counties in Washington have noticed the maximum Bigfoot sightings. Apart from Washington, the highest number of sightings are recorded in counties present in Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming which aren't too densely populated. The time series graph helps put in perspective the number of sightings recorded over the years, with the numbers steadily increasing after the 1960s and declining rapidly after 2010. The wordcloud shows the words associated the msot with Bigfoot are "saw", "seen" and "heard" closely followed by "sound". It is intriguing to note that after the decline in sightings in 2010, no upward trend has been noticed.